mental exhaustion

There's a reason why interpreters at the United Nations are only allowed to work in very small chunks of time: it's exhausting. Last week, I experienced this for myself. I was invited to a working breakfast at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne. The Oklahoma guests included the associate dean from the University of Tulsa Law School, a law professor, and the president of the Tulsa County Bar Association, while the University representatives included the director of study abroad, several law professors, the dean of the law school, two of the University President's advisers, and the President himself. I really didn't expect to have to interpret for the meeting; there were at least two other capable people in the room. But when the President turned to me and essentially said, "And you'll be translating for us," what else could I do?

Challenge #1: I was sick.
Challenge #2: I am not a lawyer. I don't have the necessary vocabulary in either language.
Challenge #3: People forget that when relying on an interpreter, one must pause frequently.

It's easy enough to do in informal settings, even if I'm the last one to finish my meal. But in a meeting? Yikes. I managed to survive, and when my oxygen-starved brain had enough, I turned to another woman and asked her to take over for a while. And at the end of the day, when I was asked to interpret again, this time from English to French, I had to refuse. It was very last minute, members of the press were present, and I was very intimidated by the fact that I was surrounded by avocats in their fancy robes, (we were at the tribunal, the French courts). Thankfully, Maryse agreed to step in.

I put that tiring day behind me, switching from interpreter to tour guide, but thought of it again tonight while watching the news. I have no recollection of what President Bush said to the French journalist, because I was fascinated by the interpreter's voice over. Clearly it was done on the spot rather than post-interview, because the journalist needed to hear Bush's responses. The interpreter was talking at lightning speed, while listening to Bush at the same time. It was incredible. Awe-inspiring, really.

This reminded me of my friend Paco, who was trained as an interpreter in Mexico. He explained that first, you start with your own language, listening and repeating what you hear at the same time. Then, you move on to listening to one language while simultaneously translating it into another. We tried it one time; I spoke French and he translated it into Spanish or English. A fun game for a few minutes, but mentally exhausting. Still, it's a challenge I'd be willing to try again, maybe when I'm feeling better and have had a chance to brush up on essential vocab.